Gender Roles In Toy Story 3 To Barbie Or Not To Barbie

Gender Roles in Toy Story 3: To Barbie or Not To Barbie Gender is not biological, only the sex of a person is. One’s gender is determinate upon who they are in their mind and soul. In Toy Story 3, the sex does not exactly match each toy’s gender. There is a question of boy’s toys versus girl’s toys. For example, just because Jesse is a girl, doesn’t necessarily mean she is a girl’s toy. The same goes for Ken, who is in fact a girl’s toy, even though he is a boy. The characters exemplify how one’s sex doesn’t necessarily correlate with one’s gender role. Ken and Barbie display characteristics of the opposite gender, Jesse is a masculine cowgirl, and the potato heads represent the norm in society. Appearance is also a misconception of gender. Buttercup is a true example of this, as a frilly unicorn who is actually a manly male. Through these characters, we can see that gender roles can conform to the norms, or can be reversed and embraced in such a way that they are still acceptable. Ken and Barbie each adopt traits from the opposite gender. Ken is a narcissistic, feminine male, while Barbie is the controlling, masculine female in his life; she wears the pants. Ken, being a male, would normally be expected to control his wife and be sloppy and messy. However, Ken is obsessed with his appearance, having more clothes than Barbie. When describing his home to Andy’s toys, he says, “It’s got a dune buggy, and a whole room just for trying on clothes!” He is obsessed with clothes, which is a general characteristic of a woman. Moreover, a woman is usually as weak, incompetent, and emotional. Ken fits neatly into this traditional stereotype, as Barbie controls him; Barbie takes on a traditional male role by taking Ken hostage, and only uses her stereotypical feminine role to exploit Ken’s weakness and to gain power. She does not act weak because that is how she actually is, but simply because she had to in order to take control over Ken. When Barbie